Acquisitions with third party subscription services
Gain a better understanding of how to do acquisitions and manage recurring billing with a third-party subscription service
If you're not using our subscription service, you can still use the Digital River APIs and DigitalRiver.js to handle recurring billing, display and acquire acceptance of a subscription's terms, and comply with PSD2 and SCA mandates.
Integrations that use a third-party subscription service can:
During subscription acquisitions, you need to:
- A
chargeType
that iscustomer_initiated
, thereby indicating that the customer is an active participant in the acquisition process.
Checkout
{
"id": "7e5e832a-0c78-43e1-b136-ced8c156f5b8",
"createdTime": "2022-04-07T20:49:49Z",
"customerId": "533134230336",
"currency": "USD",
"email": "[email protected]",
"billTo": {
"address": {
"line1": "10381 Bren Rd W",
"city": "Minnetonka",
"postalCode": "55343",
"state": "MN",
"country": "US"
},
"name": "William Brown",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"totalAmount": 10.0,
"subtotal": 10.0,
"totalFees": 0.0,
"totalTax": 0.0,
"totalImporterTax": 0.0,
"totalDuty": 0.0,
"totalDiscount": 0.0,
"totalShipping": 0.0,
"items": [
{
"id": "e782d614-1444-4e37-a103-d9726288e0ce",
"skuId": "0181a7a9-610e-48c5-89e5-84ca06c69f03",
"amount": 10.0,
"quantity": 1,
"tax": {
"rate": 0.0,
"amount": 0.0
},
"importerTax": {
"amount": 0.0
},
"duties": {
"amount": 0.0
},
"subscriptionInfo": {
"terms": "Subscription terms accepted by the customer",
"autoRenewal": true,
"freeTrial": false
},
"fees": {
"amount": 0.0,
"taxAmount": 0.0
}
}
],
"updatedTime": "2022-04-07T20:49:49Z",
"locale": "en_US",
"customerType": "individual",
"chargeType": "customer_initiated",
"sellingEntity": {
"id": "C5_INC-ENTITY",
"name": "DR globalTech Inc."
},
"liveMode": false,
"payment": {
"sources": [
{
"id": "5e359d60-1d23-4234-84ee-e1c9b3ed7edc",
"type": "creditCard",
"amount": 10.0,
"owner": {
"firstName": "William",
"lastName": "Brown",
"email": "[email protected]",
"address": {
"line1": "10381 Bren Rd W",
"city": "Minnetonka",
"postalCode": "55343",
"state": "MN",
"country": "US"
}
},
"creditCard": {
"brand": "Visa",
"expirationMonth": 7,
"expirationYear": 2027,
"lastFourDigits": "1111"
}
}
],
"session": {
"id": "965db940-51f6-4f53-bc07-1052ef0d4c32",
"amountContributed": 10.0,
"amountRemainingToBeContributed": 0.0,
"state": "requires_confirmation",
"clientSecret": "965db940-51f6-4f53-bc07-1052ef0d4c32_f9eae301-588a-409c-9d29-3358f19dca4f"
}
}
}
During acquisitions, you must disclose a subscription's terms and then acquire the customer's active acceptance of them. How you do this depends on whether you're using Drop-in payments or DigitalRiver.js with Elements.
For more details on required disclosures, refer to the Subscriptions and Auto-Renewal Considerations article (refer to Learning tools for access information).
Drop-in payments
DigitalRiver.js
In checkouts, set each subscription line item's
autoRenewal
to true
. In the createDropin()
method's configuration options
, set showTermsOfSaleDisclosure
to true
.These settings prompt Drop-in payments to display the combined autorenewal and save payment agreement.
If customers click the configurable continue button without agreeing to the terms, Drop-in prevents the transaction from proceeding.

If you're using DigitalRiver.js, you can present our standardized subscription terms and save payment agreement by calling the get compliance details method, retrieving
autorenewalPlanTerms.localizedText
and then displaying that text with an appropriate acceptance control. Your code should be written so that customers must accept these terms before the checkout can proceed.You should then pass
autorenewalPlanTerms.localizedText
to mandate.terms
in the createSource()
method's configuration object.If you configure your workflow correctly, then the customer accepted autorenewal terms are returned in the
onSuccess
event's data
or the response to the createSource()
method.In either case, retrieve
mandate.terms
and use this value to set each of the checkout's items[].subscriptionInfo.terms
. This ensures that the subscription's terms are added to the billing agreement.To fund a recurring transaction, customers can either create a new source or authenticate a saved source.
Once the checkout's
payment.session.state
is requires_confirmation
, and all address requirements are met, submit the create order request. At that point, Digital River generates a billing agreement and returns its billingAgreementId
in the response.Order
{
"id": "188817490336",
"customerId": "533134230336",
...
"items": [
{
"id": "110359190336",
"skuId": "0181a7a9-610e-48c5-89e5-84ca06c69f03",
...
"subscriptionInfo": {
"terms": "Subscription terms accepted by the customer",
"autoRenewal": true,
"freeTrial": false,
"billingAgreementId": "c567f049-9ec4-4c63-829b-efe01427a8a9"
},
...
}
],
...
"state": "accepted",
...
"checkoutId": "50a72152-4a61-4e4a-b9e1-2ab5db891105"
}
When the order's
state
is accepted
, notify customers that their subscription acquisition has been successfully processed. In the Subscription Notifications article (refer to Learning tools for access information), you can find a complete list of what is required in this notification.‌For auto-renewing subscriptions that have terms greater than 30 days, you must notify the subscriber of upcoming renewals 30 days prior to the renewal date. As the renewal date approaches, we recommend you provide additional notifications.
In the Subscription Notifications article (refer to Learning tools for access information), you can find a complete list of what is required in the renewal reminder.
At the start of each billing cycle, build a renewal checkout. Prior to order creation, a subscription renewal checkout must contain:
- A
sources[]
that is reusable, saved to the referenced customer, and has the sameid
as the primary source in the acquisition order​ - A
chargeType
set tomerchant_initiated
, thereby instructing Digital River to notify payment processors that the client's server auto-generated the authorization request
For manual renewals, set
chargeType
to customer_initiated
and autoRenewal
to false
. This is because customers are actively involved in these types of transactions.- Should have a
subscriptionInfo.billingAgreementId
that matches the identifier of the correspondingitems[]
in the acquisition order​
Unless a change event requires the creation of a new billing agreement, you should use this identifier throughout a subscription's lifecycle.‌
Since customers accept a subscription's terms during acquisitions, and therefore they've already been added to the billing agreement, it's not necessary to pass
terms
in the renewal request.To authorize payment on the subscription renewal, convert the checkout to an order. A
201 Created
response returns the same billingAgreementId
that you passed in the request.Checkout
{
"id": "d229fc76-3398-4038-bd90-2e152769bef0",
"createdTime": "2022-04-07T21:42:48Z",
"customerId": "533134230336",
"currency": "USD",
"email": "[email protected]",
"billTo": {
"address": {
"line1": "10381 Bren Rd W",
"city": "Minnetonka",
"postalCode": "55343",
"state": "MN",
"country": "US"
},
"name": "William Brown",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"totalAmount": 10.0,
"subtotal": 10.0,
"totalFees": 0.0,
"totalTax": 0.0,
"totalImporterTax": 0.0,
"totalDuty": 0.0,
"totalDiscount": 0.0,
"totalShipping": 0.0,
"items": [
{
"id": "39153fb7-e5d5-498f-9465-005560ba268e",
"skuId": "0181a7a9-610e-48c5-89e5-84ca06c69f03",
"amount": 10.0,
"quantity": 1,
"tax": {
"rate": 0.0,
"amount": 0.0
},
"importerTax": {
"amount": 0.0
},
"duties": {
"amount": 0.0
},
"subscriptionInfo": {
"autoRenewal": true,
"freeTrial": false,
"billingAgreementId": "c567f049-9ec4-4c63-829b-efe01427a8a9"
},
"fees": {
"amount": 0.0,
"taxAmount": 0.0
}
}
],
"updatedTime": "2022-04-07T21:42:48Z",
"locale": "en_US",
"customerType": "individual",
"chargeType": "merchant_initiated",
"sellingEntity": {
"id": "C5_INC-ENTITY",
"name": "DR globalTech Inc."
},
"liveMode": false,
"payment": {
"sources": [
{
"id": "5e359d60-1d23-4234-84ee-e1c9b3ed7edc",
"type": "creditCard",
"amount": 10.0,
"owner": {
"firstName": "William",
"lastName": "Brown",
"email": "[email protected]",
"address": {
"line1": "10381 Bren Rd W",
"city": "Minnetonka",
"postalCode": "55343",
"state": "MN",
"country": "US"
}
},
"creditCard": {
"brand": "Visa",
"expirationMonth": 7,
"expirationYear": 2027,
"lastFourDigits": "1111"
}
}
],
"session": {
"id": "e007a135-07ea-4cc8-897e-9081f3f7d9d9",
"amountContributed": 10.0,
"amountRemainingToBeContributed": 0.0,
"state": "requires_confirmation",
"clientSecret": "e007a135-07ea-4cc8-897e-9081f3f7d9d9_51266228-527e-4add-a4e8-bac1b141ff46"
}
}
}
Once you either synchronously or asynchronously receive an order in an
accepted
state, you can fulfill the subscription's products, and then capture payment. Upon receipt of the order.charge.capture.complete
, notify end customers within 24 hours that the subscription has been renewed.In the Subscription Notifications article (refer to Learning tools for access information), you can find a comprehensive list of the information you're required to include in this notification.
After most subscription change events, you can continue processing renewals using the same
billingAgreementId
generated during the acquisition.‌In other scenarios, when the underlying subscription is modified, we recommend that you generate a new billing agreement.
As a rule of thumb, you should create a new billing agreement whenever the scope of a subscription update is not defined in the autorenewal terms.‌
The following provides some common subscription change scenarios and indicates whether a new billing agreement is recommended.
Scenario | Details | Same or new billingAgreementId ? |
Modifying payment methods | The payment method is updated mid-term or the customer supplies a new payment method. Two common examples are when the customer performs a mid-term update of a credit card's expiration date or, during a manual renewal, the customer provides a credit card that is different from the one used when acquiring the subscription. | Same |
Metered billing | Some subscriptions use a metered approach to billing. For example, an API subscription service might allow only a certain number of requests per month. When customers exceed that pre-defined threshold, they are charged on a per request basis, potentially causing their monthly bills to fluctuate. | Same |
Free trials | After a designated period of time, it's common for free trials to convert to paid subscriptions. Unless a customer actively cancels the trial, these conversions are typically automatic.
As long as the acquisition agreement specifies this condition, you should continue using the same billing agreement in all post-conversion transactions. | Same |
Upgrades | When you receive a customer-initiated request to upgrade the subscription to a higher service level, we recommend you generate a new billing agreement. For example, a customer currently enrolled in a $100/month plan might request an upgrade to a $200/month plan. | New |
Modifying a subscription's billing cycle or duration | A customer requests a modification to a subscription's billing cycle or duration. For example, the customer might want to switch from monthly to annual billing. | New |
Updating a subscription's quantity | This describes a customer-initiated change to the quantity of a subscription line item.​ In this scenario, since Digital River's standardized autorenewal terms do not stipulate that the customer's saved payment information can be used for quantity modifications, you need to generate a new billing agreement. | New |
Adding a new subscription | A customer purchases an add-on subscription product or service and the add-on requires creating a unique line item with subscription information. | New |
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